Great name for the site. A couple of suggestions: technical strengths and weaknesses are important, but not necessarily more important than general strengths and weaknesses- at least not for a founder. If it was an employee search that would be one thing but I would possibly relabel those "technical & business strengths" etc.
"My dream is to start a company that" should probably be more along the lines of "I have plans and/or interests in the following areas-" I guess I would just step the seriousness up a little bit so you get people who are generally serious partners.
Finally, I'm normally against this, but this is one place where you may want to consider having the site invitation-only, either that or password-protect the site and let the password spread among founder-networked people. A lot of garbage profiles would ruin the usefulness of the site.
[upd]
oh, and one more thing- maybe one more field where the potential co-founder can write about themselves- "about me" or "unique things about me" or something along those lines. Finding a cofounder is a lot about chemistry and an alignment of personalities, not just matching up needed technical skills. It's not a school project, it's more like a.... marriage, to be honest (nothing weird of course).
I like your suggestions about the strengths and weaknesses and dream section. I'm going to go change that right now. My original thought was, I want to really focus on the kinds of motivated technical people reading YCombinator, but you're right, it sounds too much like an employee search.
It also makes sence because people might be looking for skills that are not always technical (or maybe for people who do not self-identify as having technical skills).
As for the name, that is a big relief to hear you say that. My girlfriend thought it wasn't very 'cool-sounding' (i.e. not a web 2.0 name).
I never thought about the potential for garbage profiles. I'm not sure if I could be successful with it by using invitations -- I don't know anyone else in this world (yet).
well, the users would be able to invite. it wouldn't eliminate the garbage, just slow it down. news.yc people would spread the word pretty effectively, I think, or some well placed invitations on facebook, etc.
Comments
Great name for the site. A couple of suggestions: technical strengths and weaknesses are important, but not necessarily more important than general strengths and weaknesses- at least not for a founder. If it was an employee search that would be one thing but I would possibly relabel those "technical & business strengths" etc.
"My dream is to start a company that" should probably be more along the lines of "I have plans and/or interests in the following areas-" I guess I would just step the seriousness up a little bit so you get people who are generally serious partners.
Finally, I'm normally against this, but this is one place where you may want to consider having the site invitation-only, either that or password-protect the site and let the password spread among founder-networked people. A lot of garbage profiles would ruin the usefulness of the site.
[upd] oh, and one more thing- maybe one more field where the potential co-founder can write about themselves- "about me" or "unique things about me" or something along those lines. Finding a cofounder is a lot about chemistry and an alignment of personalities, not just matching up needed technical skills. It's not a school project, it's more like a.... marriage, to be honest (nothing weird of course).
I like your suggestions about the strengths and weaknesses and dream section. I'm going to go change that right now. My original thought was, I want to really focus on the kinds of motivated technical people reading YCombinator, but you're right, it sounds too much like an employee search.
It also makes sence because people might be looking for skills that are not always technical (or maybe for people who do not self-identify as having technical skills).
As for the name, that is a big relief to hear you say that. My girlfriend thought it wasn't very 'cool-sounding' (i.e. not a web 2.0 name).
I never thought about the potential for garbage profiles. I'm not sure if I could be successful with it by using invitations -- I don't know anyone else in this world (yet).
well, the users would be able to invite. it wouldn't eliminate the garbage, just slow it down. news.yc people would spread the word pretty effectively, I think, or some well placed invitations on facebook, etc.